Love and Potions - Severus Snape x OC

Prologue

To many, Hogwarts was just a school that taught young witches and wizards everything they needed to know about the wizarding world. For Rowan Knight, it was home. After all, it was here that she would meet one of her best friends, Juniper Montgomery. Juniper had been a first-year when Rowan was entering. Juniper and Rowan became inseparable during her years at Hogwarts. Even after Rowan had left Hogwarts, Juniper would sneak her in so that they could cause their usual mischief.

Rowan was transferred to Hogwarts in her sixth year at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after a certain incident left her father absent. Her mother had attended Hogwarts in her youth, so it only made sense that Rowan would transfer to finish her studies while her mother returned back to work for the ministry. 

Whenever she had first arrived, she had to meet with the professors and the headmaster to be sorted into her own house. Back in Ilvermorny, she had been sorted into Thunderbird. Though she wasn't quite sure which house was the equivalent here, she had hoped she would be in one where she would be accepted.

Entering the headmaster's office, she was immediately greeted by mostly smiling faces. One man with dark hair stood out to her, his face almost as dark as the cloak he wore. Rowan immediately felt intimidated as his eyes bore into her soul. His chiseled features made Rowan's heart skip a beat.

"Ah, Rowan. Come in, sit!" The headmaster, whom she knew to be Albus Dumbledore, smiled and waved her inside. Rowan smiled at what she assumed to be the professors who stood beside a fiery bird, before taking a seat in front of Dumbledore's large desk. "Sherbet lemon?" Dumbledore offered, holding out a glass bowl full of round yellow candies to Rowan. She politely declined, she was far too excited about what house she would be sorted into. "Very well, we will get right to the sorting! Minerva, if you will," Dumbledore motioned for a severe-looking, tall woman to grab a shabby looking hat. "Hi, dear. I'm Professor McGonagall," She said shortly before placing the brown hat atop Rowan's head.

The hat instantly roared to life and began to talk. This was nothing like the sorting at Ilvermorny. "Ah, strange...strange indeed. Where to put you, young child. Your mind seems to be twisted in many different paths. You have courage, but that is not all I see. Plenty of intelligence and a strong sense of loyalty. Ah, but you own a strong thirst for power. You wish for a way to prove yourself. Fine then, better be..." The room stayed on edge as the hat stalled, thinking over its thoughts. Minutes had passed before the hat roared a final word. "Slytherin!"

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Rowan had since put on her green robes and taken a seat in the great hall at her house's table. Rowan could hear various conversations begin around her, but she tried not to pay any attention to it. "Who is the new kid? No, you git. The one with brown hair," One girl began to speak to the boy next to her. "I've got no clue, haven't seen her 'round,'' The boy replied, before reaching across and tapping Rowan on the shoulder. "Aye, are you new here?" Rowan finally turned to face the boy who looked to be a few years younger than herself. Before she could speak, his eyes went wide. "Woah, she's hot!" He exclaimed and received a firm wack on the shoulder from his friend. "I'm sorry about him, he has no manners. I'm Millicent Bulstrode, and this is Blaise Zabini," She smiled apologetically and Rowan chuckled in response. "It's alright. I'm Rowan Knight. I'm a transfer," Rowan explained, and her eyes met Blaise's. It seemed as if he was still taking in her looks.

Rowan didn't mind, she would only be here for a while longer and it seemed as though they were second-years. Zabini was way too young for her tastes, but she didn't have the heart to break his. She pushed her brown hair out of her face to reveal piercing gray eyes. Zabini smirked and held out his hand. Rowan shook it and was about to ask about Hogwarts since she only knew as much as her mother had told her before she was interrupted by the woman she knew as Professor McGonagall.